[Deborah Nesbitt, Carbon Extra May 15] - Most Australian carbon offset providers are seriously overestimating the amount of carbon sequestered in their forest sinks, placing investors at "massive" risk, Landcare CarbonSmart's Matthew Ready has told Carbon Extra.

Players in the Australian carbon offset market were insisting on using their own software to estimate carbon offset forests because using their proprietary models meant they could "estimate more carbon", Ready said.

But investors ought to know the carbon credits generated by measurement tools that did not comply with international standards could not be traded under the carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) or in the international market.

Nor could they be used in Australia's international reporting on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Ready said.

Federal climate change minister Penny Wong revealed the government would spend $A16.1m further developing a national carbon accounting toolbox (NCAT) to measure carbon sequestered in forests carbon sinks in the federal budget announcements on Tuesday.

Read the full article at Reuters.